There’s nothing like a nice rack of shimmering surfboards to look at, discuss and compare and Down The Lines Boardroom in Hayle has to be one of the best showrooms in the business. Now thanks to a collab with south coast surf shop “Sorted” they have a brand new boardroom in Bournemouth!
“We are delighted to announce the opening of a new DTL Boardroom in Bournemouth! By partnering with Sorted Surf Shop, we’ve been able to get 150+ boards from some of our favourite brands up to the south coast for you to have a proper look at.
“There’s nothing like a bricks and mortar surf shop, and feeling really is believing when it comes to surfboards!
“We’ve got the all-new HYFI 3.0 technology from JS Industries, stunning performance midlengths from Christenson, a hand picked selection of Bing longboards, and a few proper sale bargains. You’ll find these amongst a whole load of other boards from some of our favourite brands like DHD, Jim Banks, Vouch, and more.
“We’re open Friday-Sunday from 10am, so swing by the boardroom at 42 Sea Road this weekend to check out our new location, and join us in celebrating this new chapter for DTL. Thank you to all our existing customers, your support means the world. We can’t wait to bring the Down The Line message to an even wider audience.”
Carissa v Owen v Mikey… And that’s just the first three!
The iconic Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy is back, with an all-star lineup heading to Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa to battle it out in paradise for USD 25,000. The twelfth edition of the world’s most luxurious event hits the waves at Kuda Huraa from 29 August to 5 September 2024
The event is not only the world’s most luxurious but its most unique, with heat times staggered dependant on age, and surfers bringing a varied quiver of surfboards for the three different divisions. Held at the picture-perfect righthand reef break of Sultans, competitors will face-off on single fin, twin fin and (thruster) tri-fin surfboards as they chase the Surfing Champions Trophy.
After 2012 World Champion Joel Parkinson created history by clean-sweeping last year’s event, the Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy is ecstatic to announce that five-time World Champion and surfing’s first-ever female Olympic gold medallist, Hawaii’s Carissa Moore, will be joining the field in 2024.
“It’s such an awesome event, and a perfect opportunity to relax between some idyllic waves in the Maldives,” says Carissa, who was inducted into the Surfing Hall of Fame in 2014, and who flies to the Maldives looking to add the Surfing Champions Trophy to an incredible resumé that includes three Triple Crown Of Surfing titles, a staggering 28 Championship Tour victories, and her five world crowns from 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019 and 2021.
Joining Carissa in the waters off Kuda Huraa will be fellow Olympic medallist Owen Wright, who claimed bronze at the Tokyo Games for Australia, and who boasts four Championship Tour victories of his own, including pocketing the biggest prize purse in history when he took out the Quiksilver Pro New York in 2011.
“I can’t wait to get back to the Maldives!” says Owen. “The waves are so fun, Four Seasons Kuda Huraa looks incredible, and spending a week in paradise with my family will be a dream. I think they’re even more excited than I am!”
The Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy is also delighted to announce that peerless free surf talent Mikey February will be joining the roster this year. The South African is idolised around the world for his incredible style, and his electric repertoire in the water will pair perfectly with the varied equipment to be ridden in competition.
“The Surfing Champions Trophy looks like the dreamiest competition you could ever be a part of,” says Mikey. “My first ever international surf trip was to the Maldives, and I loved it, so to finally go back and do it this way, staying at the Four Seasons with my family, will be epic. Surfing a bunch of different boards and seeing everyone else do the same in great waves just looks so fun. I’m really excited.”
The second half of the draw will be announced closer to the running of the Surfing Champions Trophy, with two more international competitors and a Maldivian wildcard to round out the roster. While the field will fight for prize money and prestige in the water, the rest of their week will be spent enjoying all that Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa has to offer.
“The SCT is one of the most hotly anticipated events in the Kuda Huraa calendar,” comments Didier Jardin, General Manager at Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa. “With the iconic talent of Carissa Moore, Owen Wright and Mikey February already secured for 2024, we know it’s going to be special. We’re looking forward to sharing the final line-up and seeing surfing legends battle it out for the trophy.”
Stay tuned for updates, as the twelfth edition of the Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy gets ready to launch this August. To enjoy front row seats to the surfing action, take advantage of a sun-kissed 20% off stays this summer at Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa click here.
Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) is set to travel the length of the UK in a bespoke double-decker tour bus, galvanising communities across the country to demand election candidates end sewage pollution. Launching today, SAS’s Election Road Trip will highlight the dire state of our rivers and seas as a key issue for voters at the general election in July.
The Election Road Trip will take the sewage debate to political, sewage and surfing hotspots, with all candidates invited to answer questions from locals at a series of hustings events. The tour kicks off with a demonstration at Windermere alongside local campaigner Matt Staniek, followed by hustings in locations from Edinburgh in Scotland to St Agnes in Cornwall. The bus harks back to SAS’ early 90s roots, where the early supporters of the group used to tour the country, surfboards in tow, to protest, paddle and party. It will host supporting events at each destination, to mobilise the local community, ranging from musical performances and Q&A sessions, to beach cleans and BBQs.
The eight destinations on the route – home to impassioned communities with a track record of campaigning on sewage pollution – are also politically important seats that are likely to be hotly contested on 4 July. These include the key swing seats of Gower and Hastings and Rye, and the ‘red wall’ constituency of Redcar. There is also a stop reserved on the banks of the River Swale, in the constituency of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, where local activists have been fighting to clean up their favorite swimming spot.
Giles Bristow, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage, said: “All aboard the Number Two bus – SAS is going on tour! We are hitting the road, wetsuits, and surfboards in tow, to raise a stink about the sewage scandal in major election battlegrounds across the UK. This election is a pivotal moment in the fight to end sewage pollution and we’re determined to grasp it with both hands – and to bring some much-needed fun to the battle-bus bore-fest while we do it. After all, road trips are in surfing’s DNA.”
“From Edinburgh to St Agnes, the SAS party bus will be taking an ever-changing crew of campaigners from town-to-town, helping local communities uncover which of their parliamentary candidates are truly committed to cutting the crap.
“We’ve been on the front line fighting against sewage pollution for more than 30 years and so we know how to sniff out flash-in-the-pan pledges from insincere vote-seeking candidates. Approaching our ninth General Election, our crack team of campaigners will be laser-focused on obtaining real commitments to deliver long-term change for our rivers and seas, from all political parties.
“This is a national issue that is firing up a real sense of fury and outrage in communities – a true thread that links voters up and down the country and across the political spectrum. We’re mobilising our SAS party bus to show election candidates that if tackling sewage pollution isn’t top of their to do list, their campaign needs a major rethink – fast.”
The bus will make its first stop on Monday 17th June for a demonstration at Windermere, which made headlines earlier this year after toxic algal blooms in the lake were linked to sewage pollution. The first hustings will take place in Edinburgh the following day (Tuesday 18th June), and events are scheduled over the subsequent ten days in locations such as Plymouth, Reading and Hastings.
In between hustings events, the bus will take detours to the headquarters of five major water companies – Northumbrian Water, United Utilities, Severn Trent Water, Thames Water and South West Water – with the SAS team delivering letters demanding CEOs clean up their act.The tour will wrap up in SAS’s hometown of St Agnes in Cornwall on Saturday 29th June.
The Election Road Trip will be visiting the following locations:
Windermere – Monday 17th June – Demonstration – Exact timings TBC
Edinburgh – Tuesday 18th June – 7 – 8.30pm
Saltburn (Yorkshire) – Thursday 20th June – 7.30 – 9pm
Richmond (Yorkshire) – Friday 21st June – 7 – 8.30pm
Gower (Wales) – Sunday 23rd June – 4.30 – 6pm
Reading – Monday 24th June – 4.30 – 6pm
Hastings – Tuesday 25th June – 7 – 8.30pm
Plymouth – Thursday 27th June – 6 – 7.30pm
St Agnes – Saturday 29th June – 2 – 4pm
Today, the World Surf League (WSL) announces Cloudbreak, Fiji, as the location for the 2025 WSL Finals. The WSL Finals is the one-day, winner-take-all competition to determine the men’s and women’s World Champions at the end of the Championship Tour (CT) season.
The dates for the 2025 WSL Finals, as well as the full CT schedule, will be announced later this season after the Lexus WSL Finals in San Clemente, Calif.
Cloudbreak, located off the island of Tavarua in Fiji, is one of the most perfect and iconic waves in the world. It is a fast, left-hand barrel that breaks over a shallow reef and can hold waves from two to twenty feet. The powerful and consistent break will provide a dynamic challenge to the Final 5 surfers and will be an exciting wave of consequence to determine the 2025 World Champions at the end of the season.
The CT first hosted a competition at Cloudbreak in 1999, where Mark Occhilupo won and went on to win the World Title in the same year. It has been long considered a staple on the ‘dream tour,’ and the WSL is excited to welcome it back in 2024 and as a new Finals location in 2025.
The 2024 CT will host Cloudbreak as the last event of the regular season to determine the WSL Final 5, the top five-ranked men and women who will compete in the WSL Finals. This will be a thrilling preview of next year’s World Title showdown. The 2024 Corona Fiji Pro Presented by Bonsoy will hold a competition window from August 20 – 29, 2024.
“Cloudbreak is truly one of the best waves in the world, and hosting the Finals at such an iconic break is going to be incredible,” said Ryan Crosby, WSL CEO. “As our surfers continue to push the limits at every event, Cloudbreak will be the perfect place to showcase their progression and crown our World Champions next year.”
Fiji’s presence on the CT is also thanks to a three-year partnership with the Fijian Government, which will continue through 2026. Fiji’s placement within the Tour schedule will be determined each season. The 2026 WSL Finals location will be announced next year.
“We are stoked that the World Surf League has chosen Cloudbreak, Fiji, as the venue for the 2025 WSL Finals,” said Brent Hill, CEO of Tourism Fiji. “Our waves and warm hospitality await surf enthusiasts from around the world. We look forward to showcasing Fiji as a world-class surfing destination. This event boosts our global visibility as well as uplifts communities and inspires our local surfers. Vinaka vakalevu, WSL, for recognising Fiji as the ultimate destination for this event.”
Watch LIVE: Two Competitions Remaining Before the 2024 Lexus WSL Finals There are only two regular-season competitions remaining on the 2024 WSL CT before the Lexus WSL Finals: the VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona, which holds a competition window from June 22 – 30, 2024; and the Corona Fiji Pro Presented by Bonsoy, which holds a competition window from August 20 – 29, 2024.
The 2024 Lexus WSL Finals will be held at Lower Trestles in San Clemente, Calif. The one-day event will hold a competition window from September 6 -14, 2024.
All competitions will be broadcast LIVE on WorldSurfLeague.com and the free WSL app. Check out more ways to watch from the WSL’s broadcast partners. For fans watching in the United States, coverage of the competition’s Quarterfinals and beyond will continue co-exclusively on WorldSurfLeague.com and ESPN+.
The 2024 Rip Curl GromSearch has successfully concluded at Great Western Beach in Newquay, showcasing an impressive display of young surfing talent. Great Western delivered perfect and optimal surf for our Under 16’s, Under 14’s and Under 12’s girls and boys shortboard divisions.
With 110 surfers securing places in the contest, a busy 15 hours of surfing was scheduled. The beach was packed with spectators and athletes throughout the weekend, creating a vibrant contest atmosphere. Recognised by Yann Martin from Rip Curl who commented on the “amazing community spirit”, something the NGB has been working hard to develop.
This year also saw a huge achievement for Surfing England, the governing body, and organising partner Rip Curl with nearly double entry numbers for girls’ divisions.
Outstanding Athleticism Anyone witnessing the surfing action over the weekend will agree that our British athletes have developed their skills massively, displaying world-class levels of athleticism. This year’s competition saw fierce rivalry and extraordinary performances across all categories. Notably, Lukas Skinner (above) secured a world class heat total score of 17.00, which earned him a 500 Euros prize from contest sponsor Oakley. This score was unbeatable, and he was undoubtably crowned the U16 boy’s champion.
Sunny Ingram of the U16 girls was pitted against a very talented first time UK competitor Magnolia Rossi (Italian Grom with British dual Nationality). Magnolia is the 3 times Italian championship winner, so this was bound to be a tough final. Sunny was able to find that perfect wave before the horn sounded, to win and be crowned the Under 16 Girl’s GromSearch Champion.
U14 Girl’s Lila Skinner is quickly following in her big brothers’ footsteps, showcasing talent that you wouldn’t expect from a competitor her age. She had a very close final with competitor Josie Hawke but emerged victorious.
Noah Cerne has continued his winning streak following the 2024 English Nationals U14 boy’s champion title, now taking the win for the 2024 Rip Curl Grom Search UK.
In the U12 divisions, Ellie Hickie has also continued her winning streak, this year earning both titles for the English National champion and the Rip Curl GromSearch champion. Her performance was consistently outstanding throughout the contest.
Harvey Waters in the U12 boys was on top form, throwing and landing some big aerial manoeuvres throughout the contest. The strength and power needed to pull off these moves is something you wouldn’t expect to see from a Grom in this age division. He has a very bright future in the world of surfing.
A big well done to every competitor involved in this contest. The respect being shown toward one another was inspiring.
Local Involvement Adding to that atmosphere was Skindog surfboards who brought the stoke with his huge collection of demo surfboards for all the Groms to try throughout the weekend. Skindog Surfboards are tried and tested by world champions and are crafted with a huge level of expertise. Thank you, Ben Skinner of Skindog Surfboards, for adding to the stoke on the beach. The beach volleyball tournament you organised was a huge success! The not-for-profit organisation – 2 Minute Foundation – got all the groms involved in beach clean games. This is such an important focus for us as the NGB for English Surfing, and we know that their involvement across the weekend was a great education in environmental awareness for the younger generation.
Looking Ahead The winners of each division from our UK stop, will go head-to-head with other European winners for the European final. Our winning competitors will go against the winning Groms from Spain, Portugal, France, and some Wildcards.
Last year our very own Lukas Skinner went on to win the European stop, progressing him to the world final. He won the world final at Bells Beach in Australia, making him the Rip Curl GromSearch World Champion. Can he win the title 2 years in a row? This year the European final will be held at Anglet beach in Biarritz, France on the 13th – 14th September.
Our Support and Gratitude for all involved – A Heartfelt Thank You
The success of the Rip Curl GromSearch is a testament to the dedication and passion of all participants and sponsors. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Rip Curl for their unwavering support and sponsorship, enabling us to deliver a memorable contest for them.
It’s fair to say that all waves need some form of regulation, respect the locals, abide by the rules, play nicely. But where do we stand on multiple drop-ins, and that alleged board flick at 0:50. As someone whose narrowly missed taking a board to the face, that thankfully puncured my board and not my skull (no I didn’t burn someone), things can turn nasty very quickly. In the words of the Black Eyed Peas, “Where Is The Love?” Welcome to Bali, land of incredible waves and incredibly crowded surf.
